One Way Or Another
by Aidylvice
Summary: When Munkustrap makes a "terrible" mistake, he must work with Bombalurina to save the Jellicle Ball. Also starring Alonzo, Demeter, Mungojerrie, Rum Tum Tugger and SKIMBLE!


One Way or Another

One Way or Another

By Demimajerrie

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The Cats in this story are based on the Broadway cast. Thus couples that I don't necessarily think go together (Victoria/Plato, Demeter/Alonzo) I wrote to fit in with the couples on Broadway. Also, everyone looks like the Broadway cast as well, especially Plato and Pouncival, who are different than those in the movie. I hope you enjoy the story. Finis.

**Day 1**

Munkustrap screamed. "No, no, no!" he whispered to himself over and over. He held the Jellicle account book close to his face, then farther back, and closer again. "It can't be…I counted so precisely!" Munkustrap screamed for a second time, which was heard from every corner of New York. Skimbleshanks, who had been around the corner cleaning his kazoo, rushed to find Munkustrap hyperventilating over the account book.

"Gee, Munkustrap!" cried Skimbleshanks in his singsong voice. "Why don't you scare a Tom half to death!?" Munkustrap looked at him reproachfully, his face turning blue. At this point, he would take help from anyone.

"Are you having an attack?" Skimbleshanks asked. "They happen to Jenny ALL THE TIME! Jellylorum has to take a bag, dig a hole and –"

"SKIMBLESHANKS!" Munkustrap erupted, shaking the Tom by his shoulders. He held up the book to Skimbleshanks' face. "READ WHAT THIS SAYS!"

"Well if that's all you needed…" Skimbleshanks took out his reading glasses and held them just close enough to his eyes to read the tiny, neat pawwriting of Munkustrap's. "It says one, zero, decimal point, zero, zero."

"Please tell me that's one hundred dollars!" Munkustrap begged, pressing a pressure point on his wrist for support.

"I'd love to," Skimbleshanks replied, "But unfortunately there would have to be a decimal point behind _two_ zeroes for it to be a hundred." He rubbed his chin and concluded, "It must be ten dollars."

"NOOOOOOOO!" Munkustrap screamed, and then threw himself violently on the ground.

"Should I call a Jellicle meeting?" Skimbleshanks asked.

"Yes…" Munkustrap sighed. "And invite Old Deuteronomy, too. I'm afraid if I calculated wrong that…there might not be a Jellicle Ball this year."

Soon Skimbleshanks had called all the Jellicles (it was delayed a little when he so willingly offered to help his sister Jennyanydots make scones for the occasion). Old Deuteronomy was among them, and he sat peacefully among all the kittens. He saw everything, but this did not stop Skimbleshanks from poking Jellylorum with his kazoo, and it certainly did not stop Alonzo from staring at the beautiful queen Demeter, who was busy chewing her nails and talking to Bombalurina. Demeter wasn't aware that Alonzo liked her, so when he was sitting in between her and Bombalurina, she was talking about Munkustrap and killing Alonzo a little inside.

"I mean…I know he likes me," Demeter said to Bombalurina.

"Sure thing," Bombalurina answered, not paying attention.

"Or at least, I think he likes me," Demeter mumbled to herself. "I mean, Macavity liked me…he liked me a lot…better than you, even…"

"What?" Bombalurina snapped her head up. She looked at her and grinned scornfully. Alonzo leaned back further against the wall. "What did you say?"

"Macavity liked me better than –" Demeter paused. "That's not what I meant!

"Does everybody like you better then me, Dem?" Bombalurina asked.

"That's…that's not what I meant! I meant that –"

"Talk to Lonnie about it, or something," she interrupted, thumping Alonzo on the leg and turning away from Demeter. This was not the first thing Demeter had done that day, and Bombalurina was going to take no more.

"Excuse me!" Munkustrap cleared his throat. "I have…made a mistake," he admitted to the Cats before him.

"Wow! Someone get a video camera!" yelled The Rum Tum Tugger, who was naturally the heckler at Jellicle gatherings.

"What's the matter, Munkustrap?" Old Deuteronomy asked, concerned.

"I…" he fumbled, "read the account book wrong." Munkustrap took in a shaky breath. He held up the account book for evidence. "I thought this said one hundred dollars –"

"It says ten," Bombalurina said lazily.

"I know!" Munkustrap cried in pain. "TEN DOLLARS! I read it _wrong_! ME! How can TEN DOLLARS pay for the expenses of the JELLICLE BALL!"  
"It can't," Mistoffelees said. He produced a piece of lettuce from thin air.

"Yeah," Mungojerrie agreed. "That can only pay for maybe the streamers." Rumpleteazer popped out of his loot bag and nodded. Munkustrap ignored them.

"What are we going to DO!" he wailed.

"Well," Old Deuteronomy thought aloud, "we can raise money."

"Raise money?" Munkustrap asked hopefully, taking his head out of his paws.

"Yes," Deuteronomy said simply. "Everyone can be paired up, and raise ninety dollars."

"Now that's what I call using your brain," Bombalurina observed, patting Old Deuteronomy. "Pair us up, chief," she said to Munkustrap, and winked.

"I'll let Deuteronomy do that," Munkustrap said. "I've messed up enough for one day."

"If you want me to," Deuteronomy replied. He thought for a few moments, then said, "Skimbleshanks can be paired with Jellylorum…"

"WOOT!" Skimblshanks yelled, putting an arm around Jellylorum, who promptly pulled away.

"Demeter with Alonzo, Rumpleteazer with Pouncival, Victoria with Plato," At the last two names he smiled kindly at Victoria, whose eyes were lit up at being paired with Plato. "Sillabub with Tumblebrutus…" the list went on, and then he reached Munkustrap's name. "Munkustrap can be paired with Bombalurina."

"What?" Demeter asked, shocked. Bombalurina smirked. _Oh this is just TOO brilliant,_ she thought. _Demeter likes Munkustrap, I'm paired with him, and I'm not too happy with Demeter at the moment. Thank you, Old Deuteronomy…_

"And that leaves The Rum Tum Tugger and Mungojerrie." Tugger looked down at Mungojerrie.

"Last time I checked, you weren't a chick," he said.

"Last time I checked I wasn't either," Mungojerrie answered. Then he smiled. "But hey, it's nice to be acquainted with ya, traveling buddy!"

"You're an okay kinda guy," Tugger approved. "A little skinny, but what the hey. You wanna go get a milkshake?"

"Complete with french fries and M n' M's?" Mungojerrie asked skeptically.

"Why not?"

"Okay! We'll do some male bonding!" The two walked out the door. Mungojerrie started to skip, but the Tugger smacked him on the back of the head.

"Wait a second…" Rumpleteazer said suspiciously, petting sixteen-year-old Pouncival on the head. "What's in this business for us?"

"I suppose you could win a special dance if you collect the most money," Old Deuteronomy answered.

"You think I wanna dance with shrimpy over here?" she said, pointing at Pouncival.

"Hey!" Pouncival exclaimed.

"ORDER, ORDER!" Munkustrap demanded. "We each have a job to do! Bombalurina, come with me. We need to do find a way to collect that money!"

Mistoffelees pulled a bunny rabbit out of his hat.

After the Jellicle Meeting, Munkustrap and Bombalurina went to Central Park to try and figure out how they would raise money. Or rather, Munkustrap was. Bombalurina was more under the impression that she had to make Demeter mad, and was busy trying to get Munkustrap to notice her. Unfortunately for her, Bombalurina was failing miserably.

_Good gosh,_ she thought. _Usually I can get some sort of blush out of him or something._

The truth was though, that Munkustrap was so upset that he hardly could even remember that Bombalurina was there.

"We HAVE to think of a way to get that money…" he thought out loud.

"We certainly do," Bombalurina flirted. "After all, we both want that dance…"

"I don't care about the dance!" Munkustrap said seriously, turning to Bombalurina. "I have failed the Jellicles. Do you know what that means? We might not have a Jellicle Ball this year because of something _I_ did."

"Sorry," Bombalurina apologized. _Wow, he's angry, _she thought.

"Now we need to come up with some way to earn money…now I'm sure I have a talent…"

"Oh Munkustrap," said Bombalurina sweetly. "All you can do is dance and tell stories and be bossy."

"Well can you do anything?"

"Sure," Bombalurina said leaning over to him. "We could have a kissing booth…you wanna be the first customer?"

"Honestly, Bombalurina," Munkustrap said, staring blankly at her. "The only Cats that would come to your kissing booth are creepy old Toms and teenage boys."

"Gee, thanks." As Munkustrap thought of something to do, she sat back and observed him. _I'll get you Munkustrap,_ she thought decidedly. _One way or another…_

"Now what can…I KNOW! You can make pom-poms!" Munkustrap exclaimed.

"Hey, yeah!" Bombalurina agreed. "But wait…I make those for the needy."

"We can _SELL_ them to the needy," Munkustrap said.

"Munkustrap," Bombalurina said, "we can't charge the needy. That's what makes them the needy. They don't have money."

"You're right…oh NOW WHAT?!" Munkustrap slammed his head down on the ground. Bombalurina patted his head. "I HAVE IT!"

"What?" she asked, taking out a candy bar.

"We can still sell pom-poms to the public!" Munkustrap declared. "We can give them faces, and families, and _personalities!_ This is brilliant!"

"Uh, sure," Bombalurina said. Actually, it wasn't brilliant. Munkustrap obviously had to be desperate to give pom-poms personalities. _Or maybe he's just really dumb._

"Okay. Now that we've come up with an idea, we can stop for today. But tomorrow, you need to get some supplies. We need yarn, googly eyes, felt, and paint pens," Munkustrap insisted. "We are going to make hats, accessories, lounge wear, and maybe even furniture for these pom-pom people…"

_Gee_, Bombalurina though sarcastically. _I can't wait until tomorrow…_

**Day 2**

The next morning, Mungojerrie and Tugger had already come up with an idea to raise money – they were going to do a concert.

"You sing," Mungojerrie said apologetically. "I have a terrible singing voice."

"Okay," Tugger agreed. "I don't know what song I'll choose…"

"I can help you with that!" Mungojerrie cried. "What type of music do you like?"

"I like Nirvana," he answered. "What do you like?"

"I like Blondie," Mungojerrie replied, and then began to sing. "One way, or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna gitcha, gitcha, gitcha!" He kept singing till he was close to Tugger's face.

"Whoa, little dude!" Tugger pushed Mungojerrie back. "To close for comfort!"

"Sorry, I just, ya know, really like that song!" Mungojerrie smiled. "Why don't you sing 'Tainted Love'?"

"I dig that song!" Tugger said.

Mungojerrie nodded. "You sing that, and I'll scalp tickets!"

"Wait, wait, wait, no!" Tugger protested. "I will not have you scalping tickets like an American Indian! Note my political correctness."

"It's a different type of scalping. It means buying the tickets and selling them for a higher price to everyone else."

"Sneaky," Tugger considered. "I like it!"

"Do you know how to dance?" Mungojerrie asked.

"Do I know how to dance?" Tugger repeated. "That's like asking a cow if he knows how to moo." Then Tugger danced. Mungojerrie nodded.

"Yup," he said. "Better call Skimble."

"What can Skimbleshanks do?" Tugger asked.

"Teach _you_ how to dance."

"Okay, Munkustrap," Bombalurina called, loaded down with all the supplies he had _specifically asked for_ the day before. "I've got all the supplies you need."

"Great," Munkustrap grinned, greeting Bombalurina with a pair of rusty scissors. "Now I'll start cutting out fashions from the felt. You," he pointed to her, "make the pom-poms. Do them in different colored yarn, all right?"

"Okay my little Munkustrap," she said, patting Munkustrap's arm. Then she got busy making pom-poms. _Boy,_ she thought as she unwrapped some yarn. _He's harder to get to then I thought…_

"RIBBON!" Munkustrap suddenly exclaimed. "You forgot the RIBBON!"

"I didn't forget it," Bombalurina argued. "You just didn't put it on the list."

"Well we need some! Go get it!"

"You're like a bossy fourteen year old!" she said, aggravated.

"And when have you been around fourteen year olds?" he questioned.

"When I was ten!" she huffed, offended.

"Go get the ribbon!"

"Fine," sighed Bombalurina. "I'll go." She stood up and walked away. She thought she heard a rustling in a bush as she left, but she was to busy fuming to check to see if anybody was there. And actually, somebody _was_ spying on them, or really, spying on Munkustrap.

It was Demeter. She just HAD to see what they were doing. She was also telling Alonzo all about her problems, as he did all the work making papier-mache legs to raise money.

"How's that going to raise money?" Demeter whispered as she watched Munkustrap from behind a bush.

"Well," Alonzo explained, "all the Toms like legs, so I thought selling papier-mache ones to them might work."

"I wish Munkustrap wouldn't look at Bombalurina that way," Demeter murmured nervously. Alonzo sighed and busied himself with the legs he was constructing. Didn't Demeter realize that he liked her? He roughly dunked a piece of newspaper in the mache paste.

"Do you think he likes me, Alonzo?" Demeter worried. Alonzo started to say something snide, but when he saw the anxious look on Demeter's face he sighed, "I'm sure he likes you just fine, Demeter."

"Do you really think so?" she questioned.

"Yes," he answered unhappily, "I do." At this she smiled.

"Thank you, Alonzo! I really hope you're right," she said. Then she groaned, "If only he'd notice me! I mean, Macavity always notice me and –"

"Macavity was a creep," Alonzo said to her.

"No he wasn't," Demeter said in denial. Alonzo looked up, then shook his head. "And anyway," she continued, "I can't remember why he liked me…"

This was how the conversation went on for a while. Demeter talking to Alonzo, and Alonzo doing all the work on the project and nodding painfully. Demeter was in the middle of expressing her love for Munkustrap when Bombalurina came back with the ribbon. Demeter quickly shut-up, and Alonzo sighed in relief.

"Here's the ribbon, Munkustrap," Bombalurina faked a smile. "Make our little pom-poms something pretty…"

"There is absolutely no way we can lose this…"

**Day 3**

"Come on, Mungojerrie!" Tugger argued. "Skimbleshanks can't teach me anything!"

"I can, and I will!" Skimbleshanks said as Mungojerrie led him into a back alley. "Now if you're going to sing and dance to 'Tainted Love' – one of my FAVE songs! – you definitely have to remember one step," he stuck out his hip. "The hip thrust! Of course, I REALLY shouldn't be helping the enemy," he explained, "but Jellylorum INSISTED that I go. So can you do this?" he said to Tugger, sticking out his hip for the second time.

"Uh…I guess," Tugger replied, and then did his version of the hip thrust.

"Hey!" Mungojerrie cried, "This is a spiffy dance move!" He immediately began sticking out his hip.

"You're doing it ALL WRONG!" Skimbleshanks said. "One, two, HIP THRUST!"

"One, two," Mungojerrie and Tugger repeated, "HIP THRUST!" Skimbleshanks smiled and wiped away a tear.

"Now you've got it!" he coached. "Excellent! Just remember that formula and you are GOOD AS GOLD!"

"Don't you need to go to Smellylorum's now?" Mungojerrie asked as he practiced his dance move.

"It's JELLYlorum," Skimbleshanks corrected. "It MUST be Jelly because jam don't shake like that!" Then he gave a whoop, grabbed his vest, and leaped out of the alley.

"That was awkward…" Tugger said slowly.

"But enlightening!" Mungojerrie pointed out.

Bombalurina and Munkustrap began bright and early on the task at hand. Unfortunately, Munkustrap had lost sleep that night and wasn't in the best of moods…

"You have got to be kidding me," he said as he looked in the bin of pom-poms Bombalurina had made.

"I know, there's a lot of them," Bombalurina looked into the bin. "About 13 I think. It's like a little boy scout meeting in there."

"How long have you been working on these?"

"Counting yesterday, I guess two." She held up her paw. "Scout's honor."

"You have made only 13 pom-poms in two days?!" Munkustrap yelled at her.

"Well yeah," Bombalurina said defensively. Then she added, "It's about six and a half a day."

"There should be nearly 50 of those!" he squabbled, pointing at the pom-poms. "I've already made 55 fashions!"

"Well good for you," she answered. "Pom-poms take more time. I only have two paws, Munkustrap." She patted him. "Now calm down. I can't have my boss going postal!"

"You are lazy!" he said, pulling away. "I'm sorry, but your are NO HELP!"

"I'm not, am I?" she asked sarcastically, the hair on the back of her neck bristling. "Well maybe you don't need my help?"

"I do! But you are not working!"

"I'm working as hard as I can, Munkustrap!" she argued back. "And seriously, if you don't need my help, I'll go!"

"I DO need your help!" he explained confrontationally. "But I need 50 pom-poms by tomorrow!"

"Fine!" she said. "But I'm only helping you for the sake of the Jellicle Ball!"

"Well that's all I ask!" he finished hatefully, and turned sharply away. Bombalurina sat back roughly. Tears stung her eyes, but she wiped them away crossly. She didn't like arguing with Munkustrap. She was trying her best! But if her best wasn't good enough for Mr. Perfection…too bad.

_Why do I have to follow him around like a dog?_ she thought darkly. _If he thinks I'm lazy and not helpful…he hasn't seen nothing yet._

**Day 4**

The next day when Munkustrap came to see Bombalurina, she was sitting and reading a book.

"Where are all the pom-poms?" Munkustrap asked Bombalurina, looking around for the bin of them. "Didn't you make them?"

"I was GOING TO," she said with disinterest. "But you know, it's because I'm not helpful. Or maybe I'm just _lazy_." Then she went back to reading. Munkustrap was stunned for a few seconds.

"Bombalurina –" he started.

"If you're going to ask me to make the pom-poms the answer is no," she finished.

"But-"

"Munkustrap," she said. "No."

"What?"

"No."

"You're going to risk the Jellicle Ball because of something I said?"

"No," she said calmly. "You risked it when you said that I was lazy and unhelpful. Way to go."

"You mean –"

"I'm dropping out." She grabbed her book and patted Munkustrap's shoulder. "This is your second mistake." Then she left.

_What have I done!_ Munkustrap thought. _I have to go after her_.

Bombalurina walked down the street. She saw Alonzo and Demeter walking up the other way. Demeter was staring past her. That's when Bombalurina heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw that it was Munkustrap. _Hey!_ she thought. _It looks like he's coming after me because he's in love! Boy, this should make Demeter jealous!. This is working splendidly!_ To make it look more realistic, Bombalurina ran to Munkustrap and hugged him. Munkustrap hugged her back – _Now this will make her jealous_… Bombalurina thought. – and said, "I am so, so, so sorry."

"Oh, it's okay, Munkustrap!" she said, petting his head. Munkustrap pushed her off.

"Will you help me with the pom-poms?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course I will!" Bombalurina took a look over her shoulder to make sure Demeter was watching, and then kissed Munkustrap – something nobody had ever done.

"Well," he said, pushing Bombalurina off again quickly. "Um…that was uncalled for BUT – thank you?" He cleared his throat.

"Did I make you blush?" she asked.

"Yes…well no, I mean…this has been an odd day," he said. "Come on, we need to make those pom-poms."

"Coming Munkustrap," she said, taking his paw.

Up the street, Demeter's jaw dropped. Alonzo was burdened down with his paper legs and struggled to not drop them. _I have to win this_, he thought. _If I win it, I'll also win the dance with Demeter, and then maybe – _

Demeter grabbed his arm. He looked up just in time to see Bombalurina kiss Munkustrap.

"No," Demeter fumbled. "She couldn't…my best friend…" Demeter covered her face and burst in to tears. Alonzo stared. _What do I do now?_ he thought. He had never been faced with the situation of a girl crying. He slowly put down his paper legs, and first patted her arm. This made her cry harder. _Oh no,_ he thought.

"Demeter –" he began. She threw herself into his arms and sobbed. At first he just stood there, but when he realized how upset she really was, he hugged her. "It's all right," he comforted.

"No!" she said between sobs. "Munkustrap hates me, my best friend hates me! I wanted him to like me so much and was worried that he would like Bombalurina…but not because she kissed him! How could he do that? Alonzo, I love him," she buried her face into Alonzo's shoulder and continued to bawl. Now what was he supposed to do? She had poured out her heart about a love that wasn't him. But here she was crying, obviously hurt, and there was nothing he could say. He finally said the only thing he could think of.

"Listen Demeter," Alonzo began, "he's not worth you." Demeter looked up.

"Thank you, Alonzo," she sniffed. Then she looked at the paper legs he had put down. "I guess we need to go sell those…"

"You just take your time," he told her kindly.

"You've been a great comfort to me, Alonzo," she smiled at him through her tears. "Thank you."

"Your welcome," he said, handing her a tissue. "Now come on, let's go make some money."

**Day 5**

Bombalurina and Munkustrap had done it – there were now 50 pom-poms, all set up in a row, with different clothing, personalities, and names.

"Well it looks like we finally got it done, Munkustrap," Bombalurina observed, petting Munkustrap's arm.

"You know, Bombalurina," he said, looking at her. "It's all thanks to you." He held her paw and petted it. _Whoa there, cowboy,_ she thought nervously. _Don't get too comfortable._ She gracefully removed her paw.

"Well I guess we need to get this show on the road," she remarked, picking up the bin of pom-poms.

"Right," he agreed, picking up the parts of a booth. "We need to set up this booth. Do you think will win?"

"Oh for sure," Bombalurina nodded confidently.

That same day, Mungojerrie and Tugger had gotten themselves set up for a concert. They had sold tickets the day before, Mungojerrie had scalped them, and they were not situated on the dumpster behind the Winter Garden Theatre. Something they did not know was that in the front of the theatre was where Munkustrap and Bombalurina were selling pom-poms.

"Let me just set up this acoustic," Mungojerrie said, fiddling with the speakers. Tugger peeked nervously behind a curtain at the wave of people below.

"Gyah," he mumbled to Mungojerrie. "That's a lot of people."

"Don't tell me you've got stage fright," Mungojerrie said, stealing a monkey wrench from a trashcan.

"I don't have stage fright!" Tugger argued. He peeked behind the curtain again, and gulped. "Yeah, I got stage fright," he admitted.

"You'll do fine," Mungojerrie assured him, patting his shoulder. "Now go out there and do me proud!"

Tugger took a deep breath, and went out the curtain.

Bombalurina and Munkustrap were out in front of the theatre. They had already sold 20 pom-poms.

"Hey Munkustrap," Bombalurina said uneasily.

"Yes? – Thank you, come again – what is it?"

"Did you notice that all these Cats are going behind the theatre after we sell them pom-poms?"

"I did," he answered, handing change to a Tom, "but –" they heard music come from behind the building. "Somebody must be playing music. Ignore them."

"THANK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!" Tugger said after his performance. Three girl kittens were in the audience.

"WE LOVE YOU, TUGGER!" they screamed. "AND YOUR DANCING!"

"Thanks, I know!" he screamed back. Then he bowed, and went back behind the curtain. "I did it!" he said to Mungojerrie.

"We got lots of money," Mungojerrie said, counting the dollar bills. "I don't think that taking a couple of these –"

"Don't steal them!" Tugger said.

"All right. But hey, you did real good out there! And now we're gonna win!"

"We sold a lot of pom-poms!" Bombalurina said to Munkustrap later that day. "And now we're gonna win!" Munkustrap nodded.

"Thank you, Bombalurina," he said. "I don't like to get sentimental, but…I really enjoyed working with you."

"Thanks," Bombalurina said, truly touched. "What was your favorite part?"

"You're more than just a flirt," he said seriously. "You're very intelligent."

"I've heard a lot of things, but never that," she said.

"You're a nice girl," he said. He stuck out his paw. "I'll see you tomorrow." Bombalurina slapped his paw, then gave him a hug.

"Bye, Munkustrap," she said. She smiled at him, then left.

**Day 6**

Demeter and Alonzo arrived earliest at the minister's to see Old Deuteronomy. Following them was Bombalurina and Munkustrap, then Mungojerrie and Tugger. Everyone else came in between, but the last ones to arrive were Skimbleshanks and Jellylorum.

"HelLO everybody!" Skimbleshanks greeted as he took off his coat that matched Jennyanydots.'

"Skimble's a free spirit," Jennyanydots explained.

" –ISH!" Skimbleshanks corrected, searching the crowd for Jellylorum. "SpiritISH. Where has that girl gone off to?"

Everyone had to wait a little while for Old Deuteronomy, so there was just enough time for everyone to be happy again.

"Bombalurina," Demeter said, leaving Alonzo and coming to where Bombalurina and Munkustrap were sitting. "I wanted to…apologize for saying anything about Macavity."

"Do you honestly think I'm going to accept –" Bombalurina began.

"Bombalurina," Munkustrap said.

"Fine," she said. "I forgive you. But don't do that again."

"I…promise I won't," Demeter's eyes filled with tears, but she swallowed them and said, "I also wanted to congratulate you on being a couple now…"

"A couple?" Bombalurina asked, surprised.

"I mean –" Demeter's eyes darted from Bombalurina to Munkustrap. "You kissed…"

"Oh," Bombalurina said.

"Demeter," Munkustrap said, "we're not a couple. She kissed me, but we're not a couple."

"Oh," she said. "But when Alonzo was listening to what I was saying about –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Munkustrap stopped her. "Alonzo was actually _listening_ to you?"

"Yes," she said.

"Alonzo never listens to ANYONE. He's always talking or something," he said. Demeter looked back at Alonzo. Alonzo saw her and smiled. "Anyway, what were you saying?"

"Um," Demeter looked back at Munkustrap. She was not as upset about him as she had been a few days ago. "Never mind. I'm going to go back to sit with Alonzo. Thank you for accepting my apology," she said to Bombalurina.

"No problem, Demeter," she said. When Demeter left, she said to Munkustrap, "I think Lonnie's a little hung up on Dem, don't you think?"

"Yes," Munkustrap nodded. "I think he might be."

Finally Old Deuteronomy came. He said a whole lot of junk about how happy he was, then he said,

"I'd like to start with third place: Alonzo and Demeter," he said.

"My paper legs didn't sell much," Alonzo admitted. "We only sold four of them to Tumblebrutus." He looked over at Tumblebrutus, who was busy tapping Sillabub with one of the legs as he spoke.

"Second place goes to: Skimbleshanks and Jellylorum," Old Deuteronomy announced.

"Yee haw!" Skimbleshanks jumped up and did the cabbage patch.

"And first place goes to…"

Bombalurina squeezed Munkustrap's paw hopefully.

"MUNGOJERRIE AND THE RUM TUM TUGGER!"

Bombalurina gasped. Munkustrap gasped. Mungojerrie and Tugger jumped up and both did the hip thrust.

"Boom-chaka-laka-laka!" Tugger danced his way up to the podium.

"WE WON!" Mungojerrie yelled.

"And you have both won a special dance at the Jellicle Ball," Old Deuteronomy said, suppressing a laugh.

"Wait wait wait, what?" Mungojerrie said.

"A dance?" Tugger asked. "With _him_?"

"I think we might have already left for milkshakes when he said that," Mungojerrie said.

"Uh…" Tugger thought. "I guess we'll give it to Victoria and Mungojerrie."

"Me? Dance with Victoria! Thanks!" Mungojerrie said. Victoria looked horrified.

"How about we give it to PLATO and Victoria," Old Deuteronomy offered.

"Whatever," Tugger said. "Well anyway Mungojerrie, at least we beat all these losers."

Down in the audience, Bombalurina was comforting Munkustrap.

"It's okay," Bombalurina said, petting him.

"I'm devastated," he groaned.

"Well you only lost one thing and besides," she said, "you're a winner to me!"

"You," he said, "are sarcastic, annoying…"

"Don't flatter me," she said smiling.

"And a truly magnificent friend," Munkustrap smiled.

"Thank you, Munkustrap," she said. "You are too."

Over all, everything ended up happy for our three main teams. Demeter found she "kind of liked" Alonzo. Munkustrap definitely had greater respect for Bombalurina, which could even be romance in disguise.

Of course, the same cannot be said for the winning couple.


End file.
